George a



(No Model.)

G A STAFFORD WIRE TWISTER AND TIGHTENBR.

YPansented Mar. 17, 1896.

. PHOTD-UYND WASNINETUND C.

UNITED STATES' PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE A. STAFFORD, OF MONTAGUE, TEXAS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO F. H. LIEUKFARE, OF TERRAL, INDIAN TERRITORY.

WIRE TWISTER AND TIGHTENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 556,480, dated March 17, 1896.

Application filed October 4, 1894. Serial No. 524,851. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. STAFFORD, a citizen of the United States,residing at Montague,in the county of Montague and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tire Twisters and Tighteners for Barbed or other IVireA Fences; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, 1o such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

My invention has relation to improvements in wire twisters and tighteners for twisting and contracting the strands of wires for barbed or other wire fences; and it consists in the novel construction and combination of parts of the same, whereby the fence-wire is caused to be contracted, twisted, and made tant, all as will be hereinafter more fully described and speciiically pointed out in the claims.-

The annexed drawings,to which reference is had, fully illustrate my invention, in which- Figure l represents a perspective View of my device. Fig. 2 is a face view of one of the bars d. Fig. 3 is an edge view of the same. Fig. 4 is an edge view of the block of the bar CZ. Fig. 5 is a face view of one of the barsf. Fig. 6 is an edge view of the same. Fig. '7 is an edge view of one of the wheels. f Fig. S is a front view of one of the securing-blocks. Fig. 9 is a transverse sectional view of the metal tip, taken on line @c ac, Fig. 2. Fig. 10 is a transverse section of the block shown in 3 5 Fig.8 5 and Fig. ll is a detail vertical sectional view, enlarged, of one of the twisters.

Referring by letters to the accompanying drawings, A A represent a pair of twin twisters, consisting of the toothed wheels a a, having V- shaped or radial slots l) b extending from the periphery of each wheel to about the center thereof, the largest portion of the slots or notches being at said periphery, as shown in Fig. l of the drawings. These wheels are also provided with hubs or bosses c c, which have their bearings in the upper end of the bars d d, the upper ends of which are provided with V-shaped or radial notches e e, as well as the bosses aforesaid. To the bearings g g are pivoted two bars f f,l1aving hollow handles g g secured at their free ends and provided with pawls 7L L, secured to the bars ff near their upper ends, which engage the teeth in the toothed wheels. Springs c' i serve to keep said pawls in engagement with the teeth. On the bars d cl are pivoted a second set of pawls j e7', which also engage the teeth and prevent their having a backward movement when the device is in operation. Springs k k, secured to said bars and engag- 6o ing said pawls, serve to keep these pawls also in engagement with the toothed wheels a a. These bars d d have also hollow handles Z l, secured at their free ends, similar to the handles of the other set of bars, and are designed to receive a round bar or bars, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. l of the drawings, whereby the bars d d and ff can be worked simultaneously. The wheels a a being provided with the hubs c, the flange a is passed into 7o the slot b, providing a j ournal-bearing therefor,and to retain said hubs and wheels in position the block c is passed up against said hubs, as well as the block d when they (the blocks) are secured in position and to the 7 5 bars d cl by rivets e'.

The bars ff have their bearings at their upper ends, as at f', upon the studs or projections g on the bars d d. The toothed wheels a a are exactly alike in construction, but the 8o teeth of one are arranged the reverse of the other, the pawls and spring being arranged correspondingly. The twisters can be readily adj usted laterally from or toward one another, the round bars being loose within the hollow 8 5 handles. These round bars can be removed at will and each twister can then be operated independently of the other.

It will be seen that the device is applied to the stretched wires by said wires being passed 9o into the V-shaped slots or notches in the toothed wheels or twisters, where they are firmly held, after which the handles are operated.

Operation: The wires having been placed in the V-shaped or radial slots in the twisters, the operator grasps the handles of the short levers or bars and works them simultaneously up and down, forcing one of the twisters around to the right in one direction and roo twisting the wires to the right of the righthand twister, thus increasing the twist, and

the other or left-hand twister around in an opposite direction, which twists the wires to the left of the left-hand twister, and also increasing the twist here in the direction of the original twist in the wires. In the meantime during this operation the pawls and springpressure on the long levers or bars prevent backlash or backward movement of the twisters. Simultaneously with the twisting of these portions of the wires or strands to the right and left of each twister the strands or those portions of the wires between the twisters become slightly loosened or parallel with each other; but as the operation is continued the slack or parallelism in these portions of the wires is taken up, contracted and twisted bythe twisters in a reverse direction to those portions of the wires or strands previously twisted. In other words, the twist is laid back between the twisters, the twist being made so close as to take up but an inch to the foot.

Then it becomes necessary or it is desired to splice the twisted wires or strands an eX-.

eration of contracting and twisting of the wires, which stand ready for use.

My invention is simple in its construction, durable, and easily operated.

Having,` thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In a wire-twisting,` device the combination of the toothed or ratchet wheels having the V-shaped slots and hubs, and pawls acting upon the teeth thereof; the spring pressing upon said pawls and sets of bars or levers, one of which set is pivot-ed to the other set and having,` the hollow handles all substantially as described.

2. In a wire-twisting` machine, the combination of the ratchet or toothed wheels, the levers or bars and pawls, the metal tips sccured to the top of the levers or bars (l, (l, adapted to receive the hubs of said wheels and the securing-blocks c', d', all constructed and arranged substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE A. STAFFORD.

\\litnesses:

W. S. JAMESON, JNO. P. SLA'roR. 

